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Philosophy of technology
Philosophy of technology is a sub-field of philosophy that studies the nature of technology and its social effects. While this may seem like a modern idea, aspects of philosophy of technology have existed since the dawn of philosophy. The western term 'technology' comes from the Greek term techne (τέχνη) (art, or craft knowledge). In greek philosophy, techne was seen as something that arises as an imitation of nature (for example, weaving developed out of watching spiders). Greek philosophers such as Heraclitus and Democritus endorsed this view. In his Physics, Aristotle agreed that this imitation was often the case, but also argued that techne can go beyond nature and complete "what nature cannot bring to a finish." Aristotle also argued that nature (physis) and techne are ontologically distinct because natural things have an inner principle of generation and motion, as well as an inner teleological final cause. While techne is shaped by an outside cause and an outside telos (goal or end) which shapes it. Natural things strive for some end and reproduce themselves, while techne does not. In Plato's Timaeus, the world is depicted as being the work of a divine craftsman (Demiurge) who created the world in accordance with eternal forms as an artisan makes things using blueprints. Moreover, Plato argues in the Laws, that what a craftsman does is imitate this divine craftsman. Medieval Scholastic philosophy generally upheld the traditional view of technology as imitation of nature. During the Renaissance, Francis Bacon became one of the first modern authors to reflect on the impact of technology on society. In his utopian work New Atlantis (1627), Bacon put forth an optimistic worldview in which a fictional institution (Salomon's House) uses natural philosophy and technology to extend man's power over nature - for the betterment of society, through works which improve living conditions. Five early prominent 20th-century philosophers to directly address the effects of modern technology on humanity were John Dewey, Martin Heidegger, Herbert Marcuse, Günther Anders and Hannah Arendt. They all saw technology as central to modern life, although Heidegger, Anders, Arendt and Marcuse were more ambivalent and critical than Dewey. The problem for Heidegger was the hidden nature of technology's essence, Gestell or Enframing which posed for humans what he called its greatest danger and thus its greatest possibility. Gestell as enframing was seen as an essence of technology that pervades the human consciousness, tending to result in humanity seeing the world through the lens of technology. He saw this as something that causes humans to see things as resources to be used, and causes a harm to their more poetic or authentic modes of experience that are more suitable to human flourishing. One early understanding of technology was the idea that technology is neither good or bad, but the uder is what determines this. This is what is known as the neutrality thesis But in later years that thesis has came under criticism such as from heidegger who posited that certain states of the technological world inherently engender certain responses. In a more positive sense, the technological state of society is seen as something that shapes the political structures. Modern government structures being tied to shifts in technology that changed how people lived, and thus the degree of education and understanding they have. Political approaches to technology mostly go back to Marx, who assumed that the material structure of production in society, in which technology is obviously a major factor, determined the economic and social structure of that society. Similarly, Langdon Winner has argued that technologies can embody specific forms of power and authority (Winner 1980). According to him, some technologies are inherently normative in the sense that they require or are strongly compatible with certain social and political relations. Railroads, for example, seem to require a certain authoritative management structure. In other cases, technologies may be political due to the particular way they have been designed. In megaten Technology is a large aspect of megaten plots, although in many of the games it is not highlighted. One of the most notable things is the fact that the creation of the demon summoning program is something that in and of itself causes massive societal upheaval. It highlights that certain technologies have a large inherent aspect of danger, and their widespread availability and use may not always be a good thing. At the same time though, you use the same program to solve problems caused by the emergence of it, and so it shows this duality. Another thing about technology that the games highlight is a sense of alienation. Humans are depicted as having become alienated from their place in the world, and from the earth itself due to the advent of modern technology. This being a common theme that the demons mention. This is also tied to the idea of humans becoming less spiritual. The kind of mechanistic view of the world being seen as something negatively influenced by technology. In real life this is seen as a potential psychological affect that ties to people's views. This technologically influenced lens causes the view of nature to shift from a reverent or spiritual one to a sense of a pool of resources. As mentioned by heidegger in his concept of gestell. The games highlight this as a problem, but also take an optimistic tone about the possibility of overcoming it. This sense of alienation from nature that stems from technology is seen as something many ecologists say is one of the things that leads to harm to the environment. The view humans have of nature as a pool of resources rather than as a thing to respect is what leads to not viewing themselves as in equilibrium with the world. This is also something the games highlight in strange journey, where this is tied to the human issues that lead to the world being in an ecological crisis. Showing it as something that can lead people to an existential crisis that threatens humanity as a whole. This also overlaps with ecological issues. Ecology questions whether environmental solutions to problems caused by technology require abandoning that technology, or shifting the technological development to one that gains power over the environment. In an interview for soul hackers they talk about how one of the themes of the game is how hacking is something that can be common in an information society. People's reliance on technology also makes them vulnerable to its flaws. This is also seen in devil survivor 2. Where one of the missions involves needing to finish it before your phones that you use for summoning can be hacked. This reliance on them is dependent on your ability to use them, and keep others from having acess. In devil survivor 1 a similar issue is shown, in that the shomonkai planned to design the comps to make their members unable to be attacked by them. Showing that one with control over technology has a different type of control than merely that of physical force. Virtual reality and its issues also is an aspect of the games, and ties to the former themes. The games highlight how virtual worlds are ones entirely dominated by technology, and so are inherently systems under someone's control. Which is why in both II and nine the virtual worlds are depicted as created for law leaning purposes. Although in soul hackers they aren't, but are still a tool used for control. Virtual reality is also shown as a way to capture a world that does not exist in reality. With the games often using virtual worlds to either depict a future world one seeks to uphold, or a past one that are lost. Virtual reality is also shown in digital devil saga, where it is once again used to control people, using them like battle AIs. Digital devil saga makes the point however of the similarity between a virtual and real world, because the real world is not significantly fundamentally different in nature than the virtual. Due to both being composed of data. The virtual world being under the control of a god like figure being depicted as analogous to religious dynamics. In the idea space in nine, it even equates bugs to demons, with the bugs in the system turning out to be real demons. One interesting depiction of technology in the games however is how demons have things analogous to technology, but which are often depicted as magic. In SMTII the demons have magic based teleporters, with one demon bragging that no humans have something like that before realizing they do. So it is showing an essence of technology unlocking abilities that can be seen as magical in nature. This is doubly the case with the demon summoning program, since it is a type of technology that is capable of using magic. In IV, the comps were mistaken by those from mikado as being magical, but that ties to how in the end, their use is magical in nature. Another comparison is how they say that in nocturne, you are meant to get the idea that the amala network is an analogous concept to real life networks. Demons have their own analogue of the internet that is a flow of information that can be utilized to learn things, and can be accessed from network nodes. One difference with demons though is that this aspect is not presented as distinct from their ordinary lives but seamlessly blends with it in a way that makes it seem invisible. Demi fiend is meant to look like a combination of a shaman, and a type of cyber being, with energy lines on his body, and with his neck horn resembling an antenna. This ties to how the chaos side in general has concerns that technology or creations can lead to a less natural existence that alienates you from your normal mode of being. Chaos is not necessarily totally against technology per say, but sees it as something that needs to be developed to be in tune with nature. In smti they accuse the demon summoning program to be an artificial means of control that violates the contract between demons and humans. And long term in chaos worlds it seems like they tend to have it disappear in place of humans taking in and merging with demons in general to gain access to them. Chaos being associated with natural existence contrasts against law being associated more with an artificial order. Chaos sometime wanting to destroy modern society to start over from the beginning, seeing modern society as having gone down a wrong technological path. Transhumanism itself of course also ties to philosophy of technology. Transhumanism is generally based on technological ways to upgrade humanity, and whether humanity should entrust itself to these shifts. Interestingly, in megaten the transhumanist elements often veer back and forth between being openly depicted as coming through technology versus being magic. But as aforementioned, demons use magic as an analogous concept to technology regardless.